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Handsome and energetic, Cameron Mathison has amassed several different constituencies of fans at this point in his career. He’s known to soap followers for his long running role as Ryan on “All My Children,” his hosting of the SoapNet reality show “I Wanna Be a Soap Star” and the online “Dallas” after shows.

To “Dancing With the Stars” fans, he’s Edyta Sliwinska’s season five celebrity partner. To “Good Morning America” and “Entertainment Tonight” watchers, he’s a cheerful lifestyle and entertainment segment host.

And to devotees of the Hallmark Channel and the newly renamed Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel, the Ontario-born Mathison is an engaging leading man — soon to be seen in the Oct. 12-debuting “Along Came A Nanny.”

Mathison says that his eclectic career grew on its own energy. He didn’t plan it this way. However, beneath his hearty and congenial personality is a persistent perseverance — that Mathison guesses may stem from his childhood of having to contend with Perthes disease. The disease that affects the hip socket and thigh leaves some children unable to bear weight, with a high risk of broken bones and arthritis.

“From about 2 1/2 to almost 7, I had this big metal contraption on my legs day and night,” he recalls. “It was bigger than what Forrest Gump had in the movie. It’s a tough thing for a young guy. But I have a feeling that on some level, maybe subconscious, it added a lot of drive for me to do what I want to do — to try new things, and to be very active. I’m a very active guy. I think it plays into my life in more ways than I even know.”

To be sure, those who saw Mathison doing his thing on “Dancing With the Stars” know how brilliantly he succeeded in overcoming any physical limitation.

His latest starring role is less demanding on his athleticism — but does call upon his ability to shoot hoops and do physical comedy. In “Along Came a Nanny,” he plays a police detective who goes undercover as, yes, a nanny in order to solve a string of robberies.

It turns out that as a domestic majordomo he makes a great cop.

“Some of the most fun I had was the comedic stuff,” says the actor, whose character becomes smitten with a lovely fellow nanny in the neighborhood (Sarah Lancaster from “Chuck”) in the TV movie. “I had a lot of fun being a disastrous nanny around the house, trashing the place, ruining the laundry room and the kitchen. I had a lot of fun with the kids.”

His own son and daughter with wife Vanessa Arevalo are not so different in age from his on-camera charges, Valin Shinyei and Jena Skodje.

“I got to teach this boy how to play basketball, and I’ve taught my son how to play. I literally have those scenes in my life with my son a lot. I coach his basketball team. Those were fun,” notes Mathison.

Other scenes in “Along Came a Nanny” were more intense, there being bad guys and all, so Mathison got to show some different sides.

As far as his own domestic skills? He laughs. “I’m a very hands-on dad with respect to the kids, helping them with homework and things like that. As far as cooking, I’m very good at breakfast and there are some specific dinners that I am in charge of like meatloaf that I do. In general, though, lunches and dinners are usually my wife’s doing.”

He’d love to see “Along Came a Nanny” have a life after this movie. “In any actor’s head, you know, I can spin this into a series in a heartbeat,” he says. “I would love to continue. It’s such a fun character, and it has potential, I think.

“As far as Hallmark in general, I have nothing in the books right now, but I’d love to do more with them. I love working for Hallmark. I love the kindness and the good intentions in their projects. I love the opportunities that they’ve given me to play. I love how I feel doing their scripts and in their stories, and watching the finished projects. It’s a very feel-good, family-oriented place. I’m proud of these movies, proud to show them to my kids,” says the actor, whose other Hallmark credits include “The Christmas Ornament” and “My Gal Sunday.”

He’s also glad to be a part of the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (formerly Hallmark Movie Channel) rebranding.

Mathison is so enamored of his new movie, in fact, he even imagines that he could have been a nanny in real life. “Who knows? I really enjoy being around kids,” he says. “I’m like a big kid myself.”